The Oklahoma Sooners’ defense has been trending in a positive direction for about a month now. Though their performance against Baylor wasn’t all that impressive, the Bears’ offense was aided by three interceptions and several short fields on their way to 38 points and the win.
On defense, Oklahoma played well against Iowa State, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State, and the Sooners will need them to play well again on Saturday night if they want to come out of Lubbock with a win.
The Sooners hold a 23-6 edge in the historical matchup and have won 10 in a row dating back to 2012.
Unlike previous years, this Texas Tech team has had a revolving door at quarterback with Donovan Smith, Behren Morton, and Tyler Shough each getting starts. Shough has recently stepped in to start at quarterback with an injury. Shough was named the starter in the preseason, but injuries led to Smith taking over before Joey McGuire inserted Morton into the lineup.
Back healthy, the Red Raiders have gone back to Shough, who’s expected to start for Tech this Saturday night in Norman.
Oklahoma’s had more stability at the quarterback position, but over the last month, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] has struggled to find consistency. Over the last four games, Gabriel’s completing just 57.8% of his passes for 214.5 passing yards per game, and has thrown five touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s also rushed for 37 yards per game and two touchdowns during that stretch, but he’ll have to find more efficiency throwing the football than he has in the last month.
The Sooners need their starting quarterback to rebound from the final three quarters against Oklahoma State, where he was just 6 of 22.
On paper, this looks like a fairly even matchup, but let’s take a look at the two sides in our weekly “By the Numbers” preview.
